Motorola Xoom 2 – Nice, But Not Revolutionary
The all new Motorola Xoom 2 basically is an upgraded variant of Motorola’s very own Android tablet, but this time around it has Android Honeycomb. So the big question that needs to be asked here is that, does the introduction of Honeycomb OS bring any improvements? We will get the answers of all those questions in this review.
But first let’s throw some light on the Xoom 2. Motorola entered the tablet race earlier this year with Xoom 2’s precursor the Motorola Xoom, which also was the first device to features Google’s tablet-centrical Android 3.0 Honeycomb Operating System. And the company is back with their faster, slimmer and a tad disappointing offering Motorola Xoom 2 to challenge the undisputed champ in the tablet world, the Apple iPad 2.
While some of the hardcore Android fanatics will be upset with the Motorola Xoom 2 being compared with the market leader in the tablet world the Apple iPad 2, a lot of other will be disappointed by knowing that this Gingerbread tab didn’t fared well in our testing for the second time in a row. These all are some of the reasons that stops us from recommending it to our readers.
Designing:
We will be honest and will say that the Motorola Xoom 2 undoubtedly is a lot more visible and attractive than its precursor with its angular cornering offering it an exclusive look. The 10.1-in Xoom 2 still hasn’t got that additional spark, which we normally see in these devise, and that’s what stops it from being as stunning as some of its rivals like the Sony Tablet S.
The Xoom 2 undoubtedly has shed in excess of 100 gm in terms of weight in comparison to its previous model, but despite that all the Xoom 2 feels rather heavy and a tad extraterrestrial in the hand. Because of its small 8.8 mm of width, the slanted edges and 10.1-in form its tough to put the Xoom 2 in any shelf of Android tablet and the additional heft here is unevenly distributed all through the revamped design, and gives it an uncomfortable and almost unwieldy presence.
Characteristics:
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Motorola Xoom 2 offers incredible web browsing experience, and hence we can say that the web credentials of the system are pretty smooth. The touch keypad here is pretty comfy with nicely spaced and user friendly touch keyboard, which allows rather simple URL input. The extensive display screen here offers crunchy images and vivid, vivacious and comprehensive depiction of images.
Motorola has given their Xoom 2 corning Gorilla glass which keeps it protected from the rigors of everyday routine, and along with it the Xoom 2 has also been given the splash-guard nano technology, which we saw with the newly fangled Motorola RAZR, offering protection against spilling.
The water repelling technology works nice and allows decent amount of liquid removed from the gadget without causing any enduring damage.
The functionality and purpose of cameras on the rear end of modern tablets is still under scanner, but without worrying about that Motorola has fitted their Xoom 2 with a 5-MP rear camera. The camera suffers from poor shutter speed and less than crunchy edges.
Performance:
Motorola Xoom 2 comes with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor and has a 1 GB RAM. All those advanced and upgraded models results in zippy performance for the tablet. Switching amid the menus was pretty smooth, and so was opening and running apps. But that’s it, that was the only highlight, and apart from this, else everywhere the device was ludicrously sluggish.
Even turning the tablet between landscape and portrait mode took more than normal and there was noticeable amount of delay for the device.
Though the in-built speakers for the system are capable of delivering decent amount of volume and quality, there were significant amount of glitches with the 3.5 mm audio port of the system.
Verdict:
The Motorola Xoom 2 is a strong performer in the market, but it isn’t any revolutionary offering from Motorola to give Apple any concerns about the rein of their iPad 2. Even the overall performance and user experience of the device isn’t all that great.
